Movie Review: 'The Heat' brings hot fuzz in the summertime

"The Heat" revels in remale rudeness, crudeness, brashness and tastelessness. But sexual politics aside, "The Heat," just like "Bridesmaids," is hysterically funny.

Bob Tremblay/DAILY NEWS STAFF

Can we call "The Heat" a broad comedy? Sure we can. Sexism isn't just for men. Just as "Bridesmaids" showed that women could be just as racy and raunchy as men, this film shows they can be just as vulgar and violent. Now if that's not progress on the feminist front, I don't know what is. Sexual politics aside, "The Heat," just like "Bridesmaids," is hysterically funny.

In "Bridesmaids," director Paul Feig mined humor from the gross-out comedy. Here, he tackles the buddy cop genre, one typically reserved for men, and he doesn't do too much diverging. For example, anyone searching for similarities between "The Heat" and "Lethal Weapon" won't have to look too hard. In "Lethal Weapon," Mel Gibson plays the out-of-control hothead, Danny Glover his straight-laced partner. In "The Heat," substitute Melissa McCarthy for Gibson and Sandra Bullock for Glover, and voilà, a buddy cop film female style, and just as Gibson and Glover had chemistry to burn so do Bullock and McCarthy. The pairing is inspired as Bullock proved she could act uptight in "Miss Congeniality" and McCarthy proved she could act off the wall in "Bridesmaids." "The Heat" simply ups the ante with Bullock's FBI agent Sarah Ashburn so uptight and so cocky that no one likes her. McCarthy's Boston detective Shannon Mullins, meanwhile, is so off the wall that she's out of the building. Her fellow cops fear her and her own family loathes her because she had the audacity to arrest her brother. She almost makes Gibson's Martin Riggs seem restrained.

"The Heat" opens in New York with Ashburn leading a successful drug and weapons bust and in the process proving she's smarter than her fellow agents and even the police dog. When a promotion becomes available, she seeks it but may not get it unless she can demonstrate she can work well with other people. Her assignment takes her to Boston to find a mysterious drug lord. Once in Beantown, she is partnered with Mullins and you'll never guess what happens when they meet. That's right, they play Parcheesi. No, no, no. they don't get along. Hey, remember, this is the buddy cop genre and the formula has the two partners doing that antagonistic thing at the beginning. And here they do it exceptionally well. The film serves as a primer on vicious and hilarious put-downs.

As they search for the drug lord, Ashburn and Mullins slowly but surely become ... wait for the shocker ... friends. The bar scene where they cement their friendship is worth the price of admission alone. Bullock, an Academy Award-winning actress, further affirms her thespian bona fides by blowing a peanut shell out of her nose. This is one classy film.

We later meet up with Mullins' family who have turned dysfunction into an art form. Wellesley's own Jane Curtin plays her Mullins' intensely hostile mother. Note that Mullins' siblings all sport strong Boston accents. A joke is even made about the accent. However, Mullins doesn't have one. Huh?

For more head-scratching, Mullins rips into her boss, Capt. Woods (Tom Wilson), so viciously that one may wonder why she isn't fired. Yes, most of the men here don't act very manly and male body parts don't fare very well either. Screenwriter Katie Dippold must have majored in emasculation at college. Consider it payback for all the films that have women playing helpless damsels in distress.

By the time the end credits roll, "The Heat" has utilized every cliché in the buddy cop genre. Yes, the film is formulaic and thus predictable, but the fun is in the execution. For suspense, you never know what outrageous comment Mullins is going to make or what outlandish act she's going to commit. She is a force of nature of the tsunami variety as she unleashes wave after wave of F-bomb-laced tirades. You might drown with laughter.

"The Heat" revels in rudeness, crudeness, brashness and tastelessness. Albino jokes, anyone? If such irreverence bothers you, go see "Smurfs 2." By the way, speaking of sequels, one is already planned for "The Heat." Its backers must think they have a hit on their hands. I think they're right.

"The Heat" is rated R. Starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. Directed by Paul Feig, written by Katie Dippold. The film opens Friday, June 28.

"The Heat" (B+)

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